


bunny apples

by gokurakuji



Series: rabbit food [2]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Military leave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gokurakuji/pseuds/gokurakuji
Summary: Soobin takes a brief break from his conscription to spend some time with Jungkook and meet the hyungs.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Jeon Jungkook
Series: rabbit food [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870270
Comments: 35
Kudos: 632





	bunny apples

**Author's Note:**

>   
> **korean aegyo translations, because there are some** :  
> 1\. _algo istheom_ is algo isseo 알고있어: "I know"  
> 2\. _ppijim-ppijim_ 삐짐삐짐 is from ppijida 삐지다: "to sulk", so they're saying "I'm sulking" in aegyo
> 
> **warnings (?)** :  
> there's a bit of somno but it's all consensual and pre-discussed, they've been dating for a while.
> 
> There are more terms/translations in the end notes!  
> 

He rings the bell in his military uniform. He’s sans coat and he underestimated how cold it can get when he’s not constantly moving, but his Ka-talk message was read so it shouldn’t take long.

As he thought, the door opens in less than thirty seconds and, “Wow,” Jungkook says, out loud and unapologetically shameless. He scans Soobin from head to toe to see him strapped up all the way down to his boots. “You’re wearing that on purpose, aren’t you? I know you went to your parents’ in Ansan before this.”

And that’s a jackpot: Soobin blushes. He’s caught red-handed but Jungkook lets it slide and Soobin is more than grateful. It’s December, anyway, they’ll just pretend that the red on Soobin’s cheeks is because of the cold.

The auto-lock gears close as Soobin steps into the entryway. It’s weird because Jungkook’s only moved in recently to this (fairly big, for Seoul) one-bedroom apartment, sometime during Soobin’s basic military training period, but he thinks he already associates that auto-lock sound with coming home to Jungkook.

“Would you have liked it better if I were in my civilian clothes, then?” Soobin asks.

“No,” Jungkook says, almost offended. He picks at the button on Soobin’s uniform, the one between his chest and stomach. “This makes me feel like I’m waiting for my lover to come back from the war.”

There’s an emphasis on the _lover_ for the theatrics. Soobin laughs but plays along. “I made it home, jagiyah.”

“Oh, baby, are you hurt anywhere?” He clings to Soobin’s arms, feigning concern.

“Got a scar over here, hyung.” Soobin points to his completely unblemished dimple. “From when a North Korean soldier attacked me with a bayonet.”

That one was creative, he’s proud of himself and then even more so when Jungkook leans up to peck his dimple. The skin is still cold from the air outside, so Jungkook nuzzles him, his hand cradling the base of Soobin’s skull. “Did they hit you in the head, too?” Jungkook asks.

“Is there a bump?”

“No, you just got dumber.”

“ _Hyu-ung_ ,” Soobin whines and Jungkook giggles to his collarbone. This is the back-and-forth that no amount of Ka-talk messages can replace, and Soobin’s missed this so much.

“Miss you,” Jungkook says it out loud, much like his _wow_ was.

“Ah, me too.”

“Be more sincere.” It’s only meant to be playful when Jungkook tugs Soobin’s uniform shirt down, but Soobin tilts his head and the next thing they know they’re kissing, moving with each other naturally.

Four months is a long time to be away. His older brothers would say he’s spoiled, they weren’t allowed phones when it was their time in the military.

He nudges Jungkook’s nose with his when they part. “I miss you too, Jungkookie-hyung.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No, not really. I can eat if you’re hungry, though, hyung.”

“I’m not.” Jungkook lets his palm rest flat below Soobin’s belly. “Do you want to have sex?”

Won’t that be too fast? Soobin’s horny, of course he is, but he buffers for a second in case it’s a trick question. “Oh, uh, now?”

“If you’re not too tired,” Jungkook says, but he’s groping Soobin’s crotch and Soobin realizes he’s not being given any other option.

“I’ll have to top.”

“I know. Keep the uniform on?”

Four months, neither of them has had any sex in that time either. Jungkook presses his hand down the slightest bit and Soobin stirs in his pants, catching Jungkook’s wrist to stop him before he goes dizzy.

“Let me—let me take off my boots,” Soobin explains.

Jungkook laughs. He pats Soobin’s balls and that’s enough to have Soobin half-scream, but it only makes Jungkook laugh all the more. Just for the hell of it, Jungkook gives him one final squeeze before going down to sit on the slightly raised floor where the entryway ends.

“I’ll help you take them off, come on,” Jungkook offers, tapping the space next to him.

The boots are off in no time at all, but then Jungkook pins him to the floor and they don’t really end up in the bedroom until much later.

Soobin applied for a week off this time, before the end-of-year holiday comes around and everything gets busy. He’s spent two and a half days in his family home in Ansan, pigging out on his mom’s food, sleeping 12 hours a day, and whenever he wasn’t eating or sleeping, playing Tarkov online with Yeonjun and Kai who apparently live together in Seoul now.

The afternoon he was about to take his train to Seoul, his mom zipped up his army backpack with a sigh. “Do you have to go to Seoul so soon?” she said.

Soobin turned around to hug her. “I’ll stop by on my way back to the camp.”

“He’s got you all whipped, hasn’t he?” She pinched her cheek, then said, tragically, “Well, have fun, wear a condom.”

Soobin spluttered. “ _Mom_.”

“Just go, watch for the traffic lights, don’t forget your wallet or your phone.”

“Okay, okay. I love you.”

“Okay, okay,” she copied him. He hugged him once more and then left.

As she told him, because he’s a good boy, he watched for the traffic lights, patted down for his wallet and his phone before he boarded the train, before he alighted, and then once more on the bus to Jungkook’s Yongsan apartment.

He did not, however, wear a condom.

To be fair, Jungkook told him not to and they both didn’t have any. They’re also now too lazy to move from the bed, so they’re just lying there, crumpled tissues on the floor and Soobin’s arm underneath Jungkook’s head, threatening to cramp.

“Your mom knows?” Jungkook asks when Soobin tells him about the condom thing. He only sounds moderately surprised.

“Yeah, she bought you hongsam, it’s in my bag.”

“Hongsam?” Jungkook laughs. Soobin’s mom is nearing her sixties already, older than Jungkook’s. Well, it’s to be expected, her oldest daughter is thirty-three, and she’s really acing the ahjumma game lately.

“It’s gonna get cold, she wants you to stay warm.”

Jungkook snuggles closer to Soobin’s collar and hugs his waist tighter, huddling in the warmth. “It’s warm enough here.”

“I’m going to leave soon,” Soobin says, and at its core, it’s meant to be a joke.

At first, Jungkook picks up where he left off with it. “Going to serve this country, huh? Gonna shoot a K2, go be a man, and leave your boyfriend here alone and lonely for another four—I’m crying.”

Soobin bursts into laughter, but then he cups Jungkook’s cheek and it’s wet and, “Oh, fuck, you’re crying for real.”

Jungkook only laughs again, giving Soobin’s back a little smack. “I got caught up in the moment!”

His hyung does cry a lot. Soobin wipes the thin stray tear line with his thumb and leaves a kiss under Jungkook’s eyelid, something that makes Jungkook giggle and shake. Soobin says, “They’re discharging me soon. It’ll be in no time.”

“Move in with me?” They’ve been talking about that for a while. It’s only natural.

“Okay.”

“I think I’m telling my parents about you, too,” Jungkook adds.

Now that’s new. “I thought you haven’t come out? They’ll be okay with it?”

Jungkook brushes it off. Soobin doesn’t know Jungkook’s parents that well but Jungkook seems comfortable with them. “They’ll be fine,” he says. “They’ll just be super embarrassing about it.”

“Do I have to go to Busan?”

Honestly, Soobin doesn’t have any qualms about it. His camp is off the Busan coast, he can just meet the family on his way back to Ansan after he’s discharged. Being in a military uniform is a good first impression, he won’t need to stress over what to wear when he’s already the poster image of the All-Korean Man.

“I strongly suggest against meeting them, they’re insufferable.” Jungkook wrinkles his nose. “But my hyungs want to meet you, although they’re equally as insufferable.”

Now that, Soobin doesn’t know what to feel about. “Like… right away?”

“The day after tomorrow, maybe? I want you all to myself tomorrow.”

“D-do I have to prepare for like—anything?”

Jungkook smiles at his stutter. “Why are you more nervous meeting my hyungs than my parents?”

“Because there are _two_ of your parents, and there are _six_ of your hyungs.”

“They’re all smaller than you, don’t worry too much.” Jungkook pinches his cheek. It reminds Soobin of his mom, maybe he should be the one to take Jungkook to Ansan? On second thought, his family is embarrassing, too, he understands Jungkook now.

Jungkook’s hyungs, on the other hand, always sound so cool. “What if they don’t approve of me?” Soobin worries.

“Why not?”

“For instance, they all have jobs while I’m jobless.”

That’s not necessarily true. The military does classify as a job, they got salaries and whatnot. Jungkook giggles at his frank humour, but Soobin is still not convinced that he will come out of the hyung thing unscathed even if Jungkook assures him. “They’re nice, they don’t bite.”

“Don’t think they will, you’re already the biter in the group.” That earns him another pinch to his cheek, this time meant to hurt. “You are!” Soobin argues under the attack. “You bit my shoulder, there’s a mark, hyung!”

“That’s a hickey.”

“You know it’s not.”

Jungkook kisses him to shut him up and then chews his lips just to mess with him one last time. His thigh slides between Jungkook’s and that’s it then, they’ve gotten sticky enough.

“Let’s wash up and eat.” Jungkook climbs off the bed. He gets his phone on the nightstand first thing, and Soobin trusts phones after sex, that usually means deliveries. “I’ll buy you chicken.”

What did he say, delivery it is. “ _Hyung_ _saranghaeyong_ ,” he says in aegyo.

There’s no need to do that, the chicken’s already in the cart. Jungkook snorts, anyway. “ _Algo istheom_.”

The Nene Chicken delivery guy arrives thirty minutes later as instructed, just enough time for them to shower and dry their hair, not that Soobin’s military cut needs plenty of time to dry.

“I got you cake, by the way,” Jungkook says as he unpacks the chicken box from the plastic bag on the kitchen counter.

Next to him, Soobin is taking two empty glasses from the cupboard to pour their coke into. “Oh? Like a slice?”

“No, like a whole cake. For your birthday.”

His birthday is more than a week ago, but he was at the camp then. The cake is a nice surprise, god knows he needs some sugar in his system. “Thanks, hyung. Is it Tous le Jours?”

“No, like—I baked it. Myself.”

Both glasses are filled. Soobin stops pouring their coke. “Huh?”

“Yeah. Two of my hyungs finalized their contracts and everything for their café, and one of them decided to do this small baking class before they had to officially open it.”

Ah, café. Must be those two hyungs, Soobin’s heard of them. “I’ll make sure to not get too full, then.”

“You can get full?”

“Ayy, c’mon hyung, no bullying.”

They both transfer the food and drinks to the dining table. Soobin’s just about to sit on his chair when Jungkook pokes his stomach and he whines.

“The military’s doing you good,” Jungkook remarks.

Soobin pouts, receiving the plastic gloves Jungkook hands him. “I’ve always been thin enough for the definition to show.”

“Yeah but now you have bulk.”

“So you like them bulky, huh?” Soobin wiggles his eyebrows to tease him, but Jungkook nods enthusiastically.

“Yeah,” Jungkook admits without filter, already digging in. He says around a mouthful of chicken: “Big men are hot.”

Soobin doesn’t know what to do with that information. He’s tall, that’s a fact, but he’s not sure if he counts as ‘big’ the way Jungkook views ‘big.’ “Hey, hyung,” Soobin starts with his first piece of chicken. “I never really asked you. What’s your type like?”

“What’s _your_ type like?”

“That’s not fair!”

“You go first.”

Fine. Soobin sighs. To put it simply, his type is ‘pretty’, but in retrospect, going through the list of people he’s had a crush on, they’re all pretty in different ways and Soobin realizes that he can’t really pinpoint his type. “Somebody who likes me?” He takes a guess.

“What? That’s so you.”

He shrugs. “I like it when people are nice to me, and hm, when they take care of me? I like attention without having to try to earn it. Your turn, hyung.”

“I like tall people,” Jungkook says straightforwardly. There wasn’t even a pause, Soobin’s awed, to say the least. Jungkook describes it further. “I like big hands, too, and dimples. Ah, and I like them clumsy.”

“That’s… very specific.”

Jungkook laughs. They’re drinking coke yet Jungkook’s cheeks are pink. “That’s you.”

That—really? “Oh.”

“Hey Binnie, smile for me,” Jungkook says to crack the ice, so Soobin does, a silly one, and Jungkook pokes one of his dimples, leaving a bit of chicken sauce there on purpose.

“Awh, hyung.” Soobin wipes the sauce off with the back of his wrist and whines again, although he’s grinning, too, cheeks flushed the same way.

With that one exception, the meal goes without any more playing with their food. As they both eat they fill each other in on friends and families, Jungkook’s job in a gaming company, annoying squad members Soobin complains about to de-stress.

Being with Jungkook is like a reset. Take a breath, wind down, they’re both introverts. They’ve only dated a few months before Soobin had to enlist, and these brief meetings have become somewhat of a safe haven for him. Going home to another home.

Sometimes Soobin worries that once he’s discharged and they really move in together, that these meals and conversation would grow mundane, or they would fight and maybe Soobin would want to be anywhere but home—there’s only one bed—and he’d have to crash at Yeonjun’s for a night or worse, two. He’s the silent type when he’s angry, and Jungkook looks the part, too.

He can’t imagine that happening at this point. Jungkook’s level-headed and agreeable, but people aren’t one-dimensional. Maybe it would really happen.

And so what?

If he really thinks about it, sometimes he doesn’t want to be with his friends, too, sometimes Kai overwhelms him and Beomgyu pisses him off. Sometimes he can’t understand his sister or his mom. It’s not always easy. He glanced at the birthday candle on top of the fridge when he returned the bottle of coke, it was a _23_.

He’s 23 now.

It’s high time for him to accept that the journey gets rocky, the waves get harsher. But that’s all right. Jungkook’s nose scrunches when he smiles and he’s worth more than a try.

They still have some room left in their stomach after all the chicken, they’re both big eaters. Jungkook takes out the cake from the fridge and an unopened bottle of white wine. The cake’s a modest size, a portion for two to three, judging by the looks of it.

“It’s _pretty_ ,” Soobin marvels. He hugs Jungkook from the back, his chin on Jungkook’s shoulder. “It’s so pretty, hyung, you just gotta be the best at everything you do, don’t you?”

“It was a proper café kitchen, they got the fancy stuff,” Jungkook downplays, but he preens anyway, it’s cute.

Soobin squeezes his waist in his arms. “What kind of cake is it?”

“So these are mousse,” Jungkook says, pointing at the top of the cake. “They’re mango, white chocolate, and raspberry, and it’s vanilla sponge cake underneath all that, with chocolate sauce and raspberry compote in-between.”

“You’re a genius.”

“It’s a recipe my hyung’s trying out. Everybody made the same thing.” Jungkook’s hand walks down Soobin’s arm to his wrist.

“I bet you were the best.”

“Low bar, considering the rest of the participants are kids and takeout dinner moms.”

Soobin’s lips brush the skin under Jungkook’s ear when he asks, “And you’re a professional chef?”

“I’ve trained for years with Cooking Mama.” The contact tickles, Jungkook slaps Soobin’s wrist and tilts his head aside, giggling. “Let go of me, you big baby. I’ll set up the candles.”

“Choi Soobin’s Third Birthday Bash.”

“You didn’t tell me you’re turning three. No alcohol, then.”

“ _Hyung_.”

After the candles’ all lit up, Jungkook takes some polaroid pictures of him. Polaroids are organic, Soobin likes them, they have this certain nostalgia in the way they’re saturated. Jungkook takes one of him with the _23_ on the cake and when he blows the candles, and once more when they’re in the midst of eating and Soobin’s got some cream on the corner of his lips.

He bets the polaroids will go on the board Jungkook has in the living room. Jungkook’s sentimental like that, keeps pictures of his family and his hyungs pinned on magnets, with the postcards Soobin sent him from the military, because Jungkook sends him postcards even if conscripts can use Ka-talk casually at this day and age.

There’s a hyung Jungkook knows since he was in middle school, a Park Jimin. Soobin thinks Jimin’s pictures are his favourites. Jungkook has one when they were kids in their Taekwondo uniforms, Jimin standing taller than him, and then put up right next to it a picture at Jungkook’s high school graduation with Jimin only reaching until the height of Jungkook’s eyes. Nostalgic, right? It reminds Soobin of his own siblings and himself, his father, too; Soobin is the tallest in his family, this youngest child born in his own century, when did that happen?

They take a couple of polaroid pictures of Jungkook, as well, but those are for Soobin to keep.

Although they’re not full, they finish the cake and the bottle of wine slowly as they talk some more until past two a.m. Then they clean up, brush their teeth, and fuck one more time before they sleep, just as slowly. Jungkook’s black hair on the pillow is soft to the touch. Worth more than many, many tries.

Like Jungkook wanted, they have the next day all to themselves. Mostly they eat, that’s every conscript’s only wish whenever they take their off days, really, to just binge on the food they’re deprived of at camp. Having completed his own enlistment himself, Jungkook can’t relate to that more.

He takes Soobin to a brunch café a short walk from his apartment, a well-lit small place where they have some Hong Kong waffles improvised as sandwiches and coffee. Then they stroll some more around the area to check out the storefronts with the Christmas decorations until Soobin decides it’s too cold and they go back home.

“I have this weird request,” Jungkook tells him, although after hearing what it is, it’s honestly not that odd. He asks Soobin to put on his military uniform again, then they take a bus to Itaewon to get their photos taken at a photo studio.

The photographer sets up two chairs in front of a white background, and Soobin doesn’t know what gives them out but he says _you can hold hands_ and Soobin thinks he feels his chest expand, his heartbeat stutter. Jungkook holds the hand Soobin has above his knee and squeezes.

The pictures come out good.

Behind the shop counter, the photographer’s hung up sample photos on the wall. There’s one of two men in what is unmistakably wedding hanbok, Soobin asks Jungkook if he knew about that on their way out. Jungkook says no. Who knows, maybe the world’s moving in a kinder direction, maybe it’s all right to hope.

On the way back home they get burgers for takeout and a Baskin-Robbins half-gallon. Soobin lets Jungkook squish in a mint chocolate chip scoop between the other flavours in there.

“Because I’m an adult now,” Soobin says.

“Oh, because you’re an adult now?” Jungkook returns and Soobin boops his nose with his cold finger.

For the remainder of the day, there’s not much left to do. They have their burgers at home and then their ice cream while marathoning the _Tazza_ movies Jungkook’s torrented, and Soobin must’ve misplaced his attention span in the barracks because they’re not even halfway to the opening of the second movie when he ends up on Jungkook’s lap, his hand on Jungkook’s scruff while they make out.

They run out of lube in the middle of sex because they’re both idiots, and Jungkook has to run to the nearest CU for a new bottle. It’s far too cold outside, Jungkook stumbles back inside and keeps his jacket on as he rides Soobin on the side of the bed where all the sheets and pillows are tossed aside, until that gets too hot and he shucks the jacket off finally, their limbs tangled hilariously in the process. Jungkook has this way of kissing him in the afterglow: once on his lower lip, once on his upper one, and then once on the seam of his lips.

He wakes up late again the next day. The sun’s on his eyelids and that means Jungkook is awake already since the curtains are drawn open. Vaguely, he remembers Jungkook kissing his hair and saying something before he walks out of the room.

Is Jungkook cooking something? It’s warm. Despite being shirtless, he’s kicked the sheets off his legs in his sleep and he has to untangle himself to wake up properly, rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

He fixes the waistband of his pants and realizes then that he’s got morning wood, that’s why he’s warm. What was the plan again today? They can fuck at least one more time before they have to leave, right? Soobin doesn’t want to bother to put on a shirt.

He skulks out of the bedroom to find Jungkook right outside, looking for something in the chest-height shelf beside the door.

It’ll definitely annoy Jungkook, but it’s first thing in the morning and he’s sleepy-horny so he drapes himself over Jungkook’s back. His hard-on presses against Jungkook’s ass and Jungkook adorably freezes.

Soobin hugs his waist tighter to loosen him up, grinding their hips lazily.

“Soobin,” Jungkook whispers. Soobin only nuzzles his nape, leaving butterfly kisses there in hopes those would coax Jungkook into a quickie. “ _Soobin_.”

Wait, that’s not aegyo.

“Mmh?” Soobin opens his eyes blearily.

On the other side of the shelf, two men he’s never seen are sitting on the floor around the coffee table.

Oh.

Shit, he’s gonna throw up.

In a split second, Soobin’s eyeballs are about to pop out of their sockets, he’s viscerally awake now. One of the men is eating an apple slice and their eyes lock.

“Good morning!” The man chirps with a welcoming smile. As if Soobin isn’t half-naked and wasn’t just humping his boyfriend. But then again the man’s face is as red as a stoplight so there’s no escaping the truth now, is it.

Miraculously, Soobin’s voice comes out level: “Excuse me.”

“You can put on a shirt first.”

“Y-yes, I—excuse me.”

Jungkook pinches the back of his hand to remind him to fucking let go, and Soobin does even if it’s the last thing he wants to do, can’t he just hide behind Jungkook forever? He’s behind a shelf and is barely two steps from the bedroom door but at the same time he’s never felt so horribly exposed.

The most devastating walk of shame in his life and it’s only two steps. It’s a miracle he didn’t slam the door and jump out the window. No, he’s not that cool, so he only closes the bedroom door dejectedly and then throws himself on the bed, suffocating his face in the pillow pretending that if he can’t see the world then maybe the world can’t see him either.

Not even three full seconds later and Jungkook follows him inside the bedroom, closing the door behind him as gingerly as Soobin did.

Actually, Soobin can’t see that it’s Jungkook since he’s still preoccupied with mashing his face into the pillow, but unless those two hyungs can teleport then it’s nobody else but Jungkook.

“They told me to ‘help,’” Jungkook’s voice says.

“Wuh-whu—?” Soobin turns his face to the side to squint at Jungkook.

Jungkook has both hands on his hips, which isn’t good. That’s his _I’m your hyung and I’m disappointed in you_ pose. “I told you they’re coming, and I even texted you that they’re here.”

What? Soobin gropes for his phone somewhere underneath the pillows. He finds it and he doesn’t even need to unlock it to see he’s got three notifications from _Jungkookie-hyung_. The second to last message says _two of my hyungs are here_ and the last one says _be decent_. Salt to the fucking wound.

“Don’t talk to me right now I don’t exist,” Soobin grumbles.

“I’ll give you one minute to re-exist.”

“Two?”

“One.”

“Okay, okay.” At the very least, whatever that was gave him blue balls. Soobin smothers his face in the pillow one more time before he sits up, chucks it aside, and stands up properly. He tousles his hair and makes sure to really rub his eyes as if that can whisk his headache away. “Can I kiss you so I can be sane again?”

“Okay, okay,” Jungkook imitates his signature catchphrase, sighing audibly.

He cups Jungkook’s chin to tilt his face up. It’s a peck, but Soobin’s neck is hot and he thinks Jungkook ate some apples, too, so he uses his thumb to part Jungkook’s lips and kiss him rougher. “ _Soobin_ ,” Jungkook warns.

“Sorry. Just a bit—”

Jungkook sighs one more time, but he lets Soobin lick his mouth and kiss him until Soobin relatively calms down, lets go, and touches their foreheads together. “You’re kinda pissed off right now, aren’t you?” Jungkook asks.

“Yeah.”

“That’s okay,” Jungkook says. He fixes Soobin’s bed hair for him.

“Which hyungs are they and how fucked am I?”

“Uhm.”

 _Uhm_ is not a very good answer. “On a scale of 1-6 in the worst hyung to catch me in the act, where am I?”

“Six being the worst?”

“Yeah.”

“Two and—” Jungkook ranks. He bites his lip as if he’s recalculating the ranking but the first answer that comes up is instinct and you gotta trust that. Two is good, Soobin is doing great, until Jungkook adds, “It’ll get worse.”

“Oh fuck.” It’s going to be the ‘good morning’ hyung, there’s no mistaking, that hyung vibes like a hazard. Soobin wraps his arms around Jungkook’s shoulders to hold on, bending a bit so Jungkook can rest his chin on Soobin’s shoulder.

“You’ll be fine. They’ll love you,” Jungkook tries to reassure.

“You sure?”

“Everybody loves you, baby.”

That’s what his mom says whenever he’s had to do something public like a speech or a performance or an interview. It’s bullshit.

“I’ll put on a shirt.”

The hyungs are the café hyungs: Min Yoongi (‘93) and Kim Seokjin (‘92), both respectively seven and _eight_ years older than him.

Why are Jungkook’s friends so old?

They’re around the same level on the scale, hopefully.

Soobin guesses Min Yoongi is Level Two Hyung, because he’s doing his best to act like this is the first time Soobin got out of the bedroom today, even if he can’t maintain eye contact (not that Soobin wanted any) and he’s so pale his ears are red from his flush.

Kim Seokjin is Good Morning Hyung, who’s a wild card because—Soobin doesn’t know why Kim Seokjin is a wild card. He’s doing respectably fine, maybe Jungkook’s hyungs are all heaven-sent.

Seokjin greets Soobin with a cheerful _hello, you must be Soobin_ like the Accident (Incident?) didn’t happen at all, and Kim Seokjin’s blush has toned down and he can actually initiate eye contact, which suggests he is aeons a better actor than Min Yoongi.

Soobin bows at the two of them nonetheless. A full ninety-degree both times, whatever’s left of his image to salvage he’ll make the best of it, he supposes. He’s put on a shirt and a pair of jeans to be proper, and Jungkook’s slapped one of those one-minute face masks on him before they left the room so he could be at his least puffiest.

“Do you like apples?” Kim Seokjin asks, gesturing Soobin to sit down on the floor with them.

Soobin waits for Jungkook to sit, then he does so himself and bows two times again.

“Awh, you’re so cute,” Seokjin coos. He’s humming to the Mario Kart tune as he peels pears and apples on the coffee table with a fruit knife. Some of the apples are sliced, he grabs a wedge, cuts the skin in a triangle shape on one end so that it’s shaped like a rabbit and hands it to Soobin. “A bunny for a bunny,” Seokjin says.

“Th-thank you,” Soobin stammers, eating the apple.

Jungkook sees the special treatment and demands one himself. “ _Hyuung_.” Endeared, Seokjin cuts him another bunny apple. He feeds it to Jungkook by hand and Jungkook lights up, chewing with his cheeks full.

Yoongi, who’s snacking on pears himself, doesn’t miss Soobin’s fascination. “You don’t hear him go ‘hyung’ often, do you?” Yoongi asks.

Soobin smiles. “No.”

“He’s the whiniest.”

Jungkook pouts at that, whining _Yoongi-hyung_ around a mouthful. That only proves Yoongi’s statement and Soobin places his hand on Jungkook’s thigh. “I know. It’s cute.”

The touch isn’t exactly subtle, Jungkook holds that hand and Yoongi smiles from across the coffee table, his ears still rather pink. Seokjin’s ears are pink, too, this time. He cuts Soobin another slice of bunny apple and 2/6 is a long way to go, but Soobin’s happy to earn the approval.

The Hyung Lunch is late noon, past one p.m. Seokjin drives them in their car to a higher-end barbeque restaurant where they’ve reserved a private room. It’s not an exorbitantly expensive place, but it’s not the barbeque shack down the street either. Jungkook drums his fingers on Soobin’s knee, leaning in to whisper in his ear _they want to impress_.

Three other people are already waiting in the room. Soobin is significantly younger than all of them and they really don’t need to stand but one of them does and so the other two follow, and Soobin feels like he has to bow lower than ninety-degrees because of that.

The hyungs are, Soobin notes in his head: Kim Taehyung (‘95), Kim Namjoon (‘94) and Jung Hoseok (‘94). Jungkook’s talked about them a fair share since before they even dated, and Soobin’s pretty confident he won’t have much trouble with their names.

Kim Namjoon was the one to stand up first. Soobin guesses he’s a corporate worker because he shakes Soobin’s hand after they bow, which nobody else did.

And _huh_ , Soobin’s intrusive thought knocks at his empty shell of a brain, _his hand is pretty big_.

Then Namjoon smiles at him.

 _Huh_ , again. Dimples.

He’s—pretty tall. Kai’s height? He’s generously broad so it might give that illusion.

(Broad. Big?)

Soobin smiles back and makes sure to shake Namjoon’s hand firmly as if Namjoon is practice for when he has to meet Jungkook’s dad, who’s also a corporate worker.

It’s a coincidence, Soobin convinces himself, but then Namjoon knocks over the chopsticks box on his way back to the table and the rest of the hyungs laugh, teasing him about being clumsy.

Clumsy.

Tall, big hands, dimples, clumsy—

“Woop, sorry I’m late!” Somebody opens the sliding door and announces himself. The lever’s pulled in Soobin’s derailing train of thought and somehow that trolley experiment recalibrates into its best possible outcome as the carriage fully halts. No collision, nothing. That’s right, Choi Soobin, why think when it’s healthier not to?

The late-comer is Park Jimin, polaroid man.

“Hiya, you must be our baby’s Soobin!” Jimin greets him, taking off his coat to hang. Soobin acts quick and bows before Jimin manages to.

It’s all good from there. Their drinks come and then their food, and Soobin concentrates on masterfully grilling the meat for the hyungs instead of the looming Kim Namjoon-shaped hangul blocks in his conscience. 4/6 to go and 4/6 with a headstart without a botched first impression, he can do this.

Until Jimin passes him an extra chunk of meat on his plate and says, “Eat some more.”

“Thank—”

“Jin-hyung says you’re a big boy.” Jimin winks.

For a blissful, blissful 0.3 seconds there Soobin suppresses himself from jumping into conclusions, but that really doesn’t last because Jimin’s sent the table into a coughing fit.

In record speed, Soobin feels his face heat up as hot as the grill.

“Jimin-aah,” Seokjin scolds with an absence of strictness. “Group chat code, please!”

Of course.

Of course they have a group chat. Yoongi is facepalming and Soobin understands immediately why Kim Seokjin is a hazard.

Jimin purses his lips and widens his eyes innocently. This hyung is Level Six, Soobin has no doubt. “Why? He’s tall, right? How tall are you Soobin-ah?”

Soobin almost clears his throat but he swallows that down and that ends up sounding like he’s choking. “188, hyung.”

“Really? That’s so tall!” Jimin slaps his arm, giggling. They’ve only had corn tea so far because their beer hasn’t arrived so Jimin can’t possibly be drunk, this is just who he is by default. “No wonder you’re packing—”

“Whoa, looks like the ggalbi’s ready!” Hoseok interjects. He thrusts one of the tongs into Soobin’s hand and takes one pair for himself. “C’mon Soobin-ah, help me flip this thing.”

Soobin’s never nodded so enthusiastically in his life. Across the table, Jungkook is hiding his face in Yoongi’s neck. That beer better come soon.

Final verdict? It wasn’t that bad.

It was actually rather fun. Jungkook’s hyungs are an excitable bunch, they all met through a string of acquaintances in their college life, some of them were uni classmates, online friends, dance club members, just life in general. Somehow they collectively ended up being on the same wavelength and now they’re an unconventional yet wholesome pack.

Soobin felt welcomed by them. They genuinely like him and they’re happy their youngest friend found someone he really likes.

That sleepy faux pas and its subsequent teasing aside, the hyungs were incredibly polite. They bought Soobin some sweets to take home to his parents in Ansan, paid for the bill, and wished him all the best for his remaining 4 months in service until April. Not one of them, not even Yoongi and Seokjin who are older than his brother, made a remark about how ‘nice’ Soobin has it now, or how lenient the military has become, and that’s basic decency but most of the older Korean men Soobin knows do not have that, so he immensely respects Jungkook’s hyungs.

For the larger part, Soobin loosened up. They made him feel entertained the whole time and Taehyung even drove him to Hongdae where he’s set to meet Yeonjun and Kai. Hoseok and Namjoon are in the car, too.

When Soobin steps off, Jungkook and Namjoon resettle in the back seat, and Namjoon’s seat belt gets stuck. They all laugh at him and Jungkook helps him strap up, Namjoon’s big hand curling around Jungkook’s elbow when Jungkook clicks the seat belt in place.

Namjoon’s hand around Jungkook’s elbow. Namjoon’s hand, Jungkook’s—

“Have fun, Soobin-ah,” Jungkook bids with a grin. The car window rolls down as Jungkook waves at him, and the car drives away.

And Kim Namjoon-shaped hangul blocks come tumbling back down in Soobin’s head.

“Ttubinie-hyeong why are you sulky?” Kai throws his feet on Soobin’s lap on the karaoke room’s sofa.

The song is tuning to an end, what was it, Zion T? Click Me?

Yeonjun gets a score of 89 and he whoops. Soobin didn’t catch what song was next on the queue.

Meanwhile, Kai kicks his legs up and down Soobin’s lap. Soobin ignores him, and if that isn’t a neon sign of _I am sulking_.

“I’m fine, Kai-yah,” Soobin convinces unconvincingly.

“Meeting the Jeon Hyungs went worse than planned?” Yeonjun asks.

“No, they were nice! It was fine,” Soobin brushes off, tamps down a sigh. “They’re, you know, adults and… very good looking.”

Like an imaginary bulb just lit up, Yeonjun knocks the butt of the microphone on his palm. “You’re _jealous_.”

Kai’s mouth goes into a perfect O-shape and Soobin gawks. “What?”

“They’re older and hot so you’re jealous, aren’t you?”

“I’m—” The monitor flashes the title of the next song and Soobin groans. It’s Dynamic Duo and quite arguably their least safe-for-work song out there. “Who picked this?”

Kai raises his hand up proudly. Soobin scowls and Yeonjun cackles along with Kai. The song’s opened with an early hook and as that true chorus hits both Kai and Yeonjun chant, “ _Haru jongil meokgo hago jago! Meokgo hago jago!_ ”

“You guys are fucking stressing me out.”

“OST for Soobinie-hyung’s military break!” Kai cheers.

Soobin nabs the microphone from Yeonjun’s hand. “Fuck it, you’re right.”

He can’t believe rapping desperately to one of the horniest songs in K-Hip Hop history can help him cope, but heck, it works.

They go get some odeng and soju to recharge from karaoke and to just catch up and be together a little longer before Soobin has to return to camp. By the time he’ll be discharged he’d be in the same year as Kai in college, and although that’s odd to think about it’s also kind of fun.

He rings Jungkook’s bell at around one a.m., and he’s not drunk or anything, he’s just moderately tipsy. But Jungkook opens the door with the two top buttons of his pyjama shirt undone and Soobin stumbles out of his shoes and shoves Jungkook against the wall before the auto-lock even has a chance to turn.

Jungkook gasps as his back hits the hard surface and Soobin can’t tell how much force he used, but he couldn’t care less about it at the moment, Jungkook’s into being pushed around.

Jungkook also likes kissing someone who towers over him and Soobin doesn’t bother bending down, biting and nibbling on Jungkook’s lips when he still has the upper hand.

“Yuja soju?” Jungkook asks, breathless. Soobin answers him by licking his tongue. “ _Baby_.”

Okay. That’s enough, maybe, he’ll strain Jungkook’s neck. He wraps his arms around Jungkook’s shoulders, burying his nose in Jungkook’s hair.

“Hyung,” he mumbles. Jungkook responds by holding onto his waist, but Soobin’s head is a mess of hangul blocks and they’re all knocking, shuffling. “The being tall big hands dimples thing did you say those about your type ‘cos I had them or ‘cos they were already your type to begin with?”

His voice is muffled and he’s speaking ten words a second, Jungkook can’t hear it properly. “Pardon?”

Ugh. Forget about it, he just needs to lie down. “No, it’s nothing.”

“It’s something, all right,” Jungkook says. Soobin grunts and Jungkook pinches his waist. “Hey. Out with it.”

“DidyouhaveacrushonNamjoonhyung?”

“Say that again?”

Soobin grumbles. He pulls back to speak clearly, because he won’t be able to sleep if he leaves this hanging. “ _Did you have a crush on Namjoon-hyung?_ ”

Jungkook blinks. “Oh, that. Yeah, I did.”

“You’re supposed to say no!”

With the audacity to pout, Jungkook taps his finger on Soobin’s cheek. “Everyone had a crush on Namjoon-hyung, Binnie. He’s just that type of person. It was a kiddy crush, I looked up to him.”

Don’t like that answer too much. “Uhh.”

“Don’t sulk.” He taps Soobin’s cheek again but Soobin only shakes his head and buries his nose in Jungkook’s hair again. “Soobin. Say something.”

“ _Ppijim ppijim_ ,” he mumbles once more, but this time it’s a loud mumbling and Jungkook catches that just fine.

“ _Ppijim ppijim?_ ” Jungkook laughs. He grabs Soobin’s face to force them to face each other. “Ugh, you’re so cute. Come here, let me—”

He tries to resist but Jungkook’s as strong as a bull and he doesn’t want to snap his neck so Soobin lets Jungkook squish his cheeks and play with them even if he complains. “No, hyung—no that’s unfair I’m _ppijim-_ ing—”

“Don’t _ppijim_ too much, I’m the sulker.” Jungkook leaves a peck on his stupidly puckered lips. “Baby. Joonie-hyung’s taken, okay?”

At this point he thinks he’s gotten over it and it really doesn’t concern him whether or not Kim Namjoon is single or taken, but belatedly his sorta-drunk mind pulls out the memory file on the hyungs’ relationship chart from the many drawers of his brain.

Soobin squints. “So that worked out, then?”

Jungkook lets his cheeks rest, finally, choosing to curl his hands around Soobin’s neck, instead. “Uh-huh.”

Another memory file, fairly recent, not even in a drawer yet: Barbeque Lunch Interactions. “Now that you said it, I got those vibes from them during lunch. They’re adorable.”

“Right?” Jungkook grins. _Everybody had a crush on Namjoon-hyung_ —yeah, Soobin supposes it’s the news anchor voice. Jungkook’s thumb brushes his jaw and Soobin stops kicking those hangul blocks off the ledge to clean his head up. “Binnie.”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

Soobin squirms. “Ahh, why do you have to say that? That’s so cheesy, hyung.”

“We say that all the time!”

“Yeah but, you said in _that tone_.”

“How do you want me to say it, then? _Shyubinie saranghaeng_?”

Soobin nods. _Duh_. “Yeah, that’s the normal one.”

“You’re such a baby.” Then he says it again, without aegyo and without listening to Soobin in the slightest, “I love you.”

Soobin scrunches his nose. “I got hard.”

“Oh my fucking _god_.”

Soobin peels Jungkook’s hands off his neck so he can switch up and grip Jungkook’s sides, thumbing circles around his hip bones. “Wanna fuck hyung,” he whines.

His erection bumps against Jungkook’s hip and Jungkook holds him back, he’s really at half-chub and from what? “You’re drunk, you’re gonna feel awful in the morning.”

“’m not that drunk.”

“Go shower, if it doesn’t go down in the shower you can fuck me.”

Tragically, it does go down in the shower. Water’s cold and Soobin’s drunk enough that he doesn’t wait for it to warm up. He’s too exhausted to be conscious, anyway, Jungkook’s playing the Switch on the bed and Soobin curls up on his stomach like an overgrown dog, falling asleep in a matter of seconds. But that’s okay, more for tomorrow.

One of the many ways the military fucks him up is that sometimes he sleeps well, but sometimes he wakes up at ass o’clock at five or six in the morning, and can’t go back to sleep. Blink, do some rub-eye, the ceiling’s still there. Yeah, not going back to sleep.

Jungkook’s turned off the floor heating in the living room and it’s freezing outside. He makes a quick trip to the bathroom to do his morning routine: take a piss, splash water on his face, brush his teeth.

The way back is as tormenting as the way out, Soobin shuts the bedroom door close and retreats under the covers again, immediately hugging Jungkook like a bolster. The man’s a furnace when he sleeps, he’s hell to have in the summer but at least he never wears a shirt and he’s ripped.

Soobin starts off spooning Jungkook. The contact stirs Jungkook in his sleep and he mumbles, turning his body around to face Soobin, getting rid of the cold plastered all over his back.

Jungkook looks younger when he sleeps. Well, Soobin guesses most people are when they’re unguarded. Jungkook’s cheeks are puffed, his lips slightly parted.

He’s pretty.

Soobin is not too good with words, he can’t describe it well. His sister squealed when he showed a picture of Jungkook to her. _Got a looker, good job!_ She cheered. But what did Soobin do, really? Maybe it was something in his past life. Definitely something in his past life, maybe he saved a cat from a high-up tree branch in his past life.

Gotta use that hard-earned cat hero card in this life.

He caresses Jungkook’s earlobe gently with his fingertips, in a movement that won’t wake him. “Hyung,” he whispers. “Excuse me.” Carefully, he pushes Jungkook flat on the mattress, Jungkook grumbles a bit but doesn’t fight. They’ve done this a few times before, Jungkook said he doesn’t care as long as Soobin cleans up.

His hands would have likely warmed up, but just in case Soobin rubs them on his knitted sweater before he lays them on Jungkook. Kissing Jungkook usually wakes him up so Soobin leaves fleeting ones on Jungkook’s neck and collar, his sternum where his sleep shirt is unbuttoned, as _sorry_ ’s and _excuse me_ ’s.

The duvet eventually falls off his shoulders and he keeps Jungkook’s sleep shirt on him so it won’t get too cold, even buttoning it all the way up. Jungkook only shifts a bit when Soobin takes his pyjama pants off him, still asleep. He makes these little, quiet sounds as Soobin opens him up. When Soobin enters him, his thigh trembles and he exhales a sweet moan.

Every time they do this, Soobin is sure that Jungkook’s actually awake, it’s just that he can’t be bothered to open his eyes. Soobin kisses his eyelid as a _thank you_ , sheathed all the way in. He doesn’t want to jostle Jungkook too much, he moves patiently, covering Jungkook’s body for them to stay warm. It’s nice and wet inside, a pillowy squeeze, Jungkook is pretty inside and out.

Jungkook always comes first half-asleep, blunt nails sinking into the skin of Soobin’s wrist. An _ah-anhh_ escapes him, soft but more audible than the whimpers he’s let out so far.

“Bit more,” Soobin whispers on his jaw, and he feels Jungkook nod. He’s almost there. He hikes Jungkook’s leg up, lifting the calf to stretch him out without a strain. “ _Jagi,_ ” Soobin calls him, how he never does in this moment of vulnerability. “ _Jagiyah,_ ” and he comes where Jungkook warms him inside.

It’s after the high lays out that he notices Jungkook’s chest rising and falling underneath his, their heartbeats syncing. Like a habit, he kisses Jungkook’s upper lip, lower lip, and then the seam, having that breath for himself.

“O’er food,” Jungkook slurs. Soobin rubs Jungkook’s thigh, easing the muscles.

“Sure. What does hyung want?”

“Mmh, Mc… McMuffins.”

“Okay.” Soobin chuckles. He brushes their nose together, one more kiss. “Sleep, hyung, I’ll clean up.”

“Uhm.”

The tissue box’s within reach. He grabs some to wipe Jungkook’s stomach before he pulls out carefully, covering Jungkook with the duvet. It’s seven in the morning already, he orders their food through an app and washes up, bringing a warm wet towel back to the room to clean Jungkook up, too.

Once the food arrives, they have breakfast in bed using the fold IKEA table Jungkook has. It’s his last day already, and then four more months of dust mite rooms and grime on the soles of his boots. Thank god he’ll be discharged before summer, Soobin thinks he’s inhaled at least more than 10 bugs from his panting during the mountain jogs.

For this afternoon, he plans on taking the local subway to Ansan. There’s no rush to go, although his mom does expect him before dinner. Still, they have time.

“Do you know that song?” He asks Jungkook absentmindedly when they’re fucking again, or ‘after’ is more appropriate, he guesses. They finished a round and Jungkook’s just warming his cock now, playing Pokemon on his Switch.

“Hm?”

“It’s… kinda old. Kai and Yeonjunie-hyung picked it during karaoke to make fun of me.”

Jungkook chuckles. “If Kai knows it, I probably do.”

“Dynamic Duo, _meokgo hago jago_?”

The title is bold. Jungkook’s character stops moving on the screen and Jungkook throws his head back, laughing. “Is that us?”

“Isn’t it?”

Jungkook pats Soobin’s thigh. “You feel good, so that’s okay.” Jungkook hums. “And you smell nice.”

That’s a funny thing to say, but it’s also a Jungkook thing to say. Soobin hugs his waist and blows on his nape to tickle him, which works, Jungkook laughs again. Jungkook smells nice, too. Soobin wants to go home and live in this scent soon.

An hour before Soobin has to go, Jungkook cuts his finger on a fruit knife. He was trying to cut Soobin those bunny apples Seokjin did before, and luckily he doesn’t get any droplets on the apples. The wound is shallow, the blood doesn’t show until a couple of seconds. He washes it off under the tap and Soobin helps him put a band-aid over it. Jungkook only has the one with that bunny Line character in his medicine cabinet, it suits him.

“Hmm,” Jungkook muses, scratching the band-aid with his fingernail harmlessly.

He does that when he wants to say something but is waiting for Soobin to pay attention to him. “Yes, hyung?”

“I like it when you take care of me,” Jungkook confesses. “I shouldn’t like it too much, should I?”

Soobin doesn’t see any wrong in that, he’s flattered, on the contrary, he’s usually the one who needs taking care of. “What makes you think that?”

“Because I’m older. And you said that you liked being taken care of, didn’t you?”

That, he did. He’s the youngest in his family, he’s used to being babied, but Soobin doesn’t think it’s one thing or the other. “It’s not mutually exclusive, you know,” Soobin tells him. “You can take care of me and I can take care of you at the same time.”

They’re still holding hands. Jungkook traces the vein up Soobin’s hand with his fingertip. “Guess you’re right.”

“We don’t need to worry about that.”

“Un.”

Is it the timing? The moment? Soobin says, “I love you.”

“Oh, in that tone?” Jungkook teases him. Right, gosh. Soobin’s too shy to meet his eyes, now.

“Yeah, in that tone.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“For the band-aid.” Jungkook giggles. He lets go of Soobin to transfer the cut apples into a bowl. They have a fork in there, but Jungkook grabs a wedge with his hand and feeds it to Soobin like that. It really is not mutually exclusive, Jungkook takes care of Soobin just as well. His mom would like Jungkook, his sister, too.

“Hurry home, soon,” Jungkook says. Home can mean Ansan, and ‘soon’ is entirely out of Soobin’s control, but he understands. _Hurry home_ is just another phrase for something else, so hurry home.

“I will,” Soobin promises.

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  **additional terms, details:**
> 
> 1\. [Bunny apples](https://cookpad.com/recipe/3465955) are apple wedges with the skin cut off on one side to look bunny-shaped  
> 2\. Hongsam 홍삼: korean red ginger extract; has lots of health benefits, including strengthening the immune system and better circulation  
> 3\. Dynamic Duo's _Eat Pray Love_ 먹고 하고 자고 literally translates to eat, sex, sleep  
> 4\. Right now the conscription length in Korea is 21 months for the ROK Army (differs for navy, airforce, police force, etc.). As of 2022, they're planning to change it to 18 months. Soobin is serving 18 months  
> 5\. Conscripts are technically allowed to leave the barracks twice a month, but those are short trips to nearby areas. They still have to apply for long breaks to go back to their hometown  
> 6\. Beomgyu and Taehyun are in the military, which is why they're not featured. Kai has an American passport and doesn't need to enlist


End file.
